a compendium of facts about Ohio history
by Dan Chabek
Cumberland Road
Pioneers drove their covered wagons pulled by teams of oxen over this trail, and earlier the Indians used the route extensively.
Later it was rebuilt and called the Old National Road. Eventually it became U.S. Route 40.
Before the American Revolution, General Edward Braddock, who was defeated by the French and Indians near the present site of Pittsburgh, directed the construction of a section of the historic highway. His strip was identified for a long time afterward as "Braddock's Trace."
Begun in 1806 at Cumberland, Md., the old National Road was finished to Wheeling, W. Va., a dozen years later. It reached Columbus, Ohio, in 1833, crossed the Indiana line in 1837, and was completed to Vandalia, Ill., in 1852. Following furthuer extensions, it connected the Atlantic seabord with the Pacific Coast.
© 1998 Dan Chabek
National Road/U.S. Route 40 Home Page
National Road / Zane Grey Museum (from the Ohio Historical Society)
Stories of the National Road - National Road Association of Illinois